


Reappearances

by lineofpepsi



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gang/Police Au, Grand Theft Auto AU, Light Angst, M/M, Swearing, like a lot of swearing, slow burn?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 05:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18564694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lineofpepsi/pseuds/lineofpepsi
Summary: Jonathan shows up, then disappears. He does this twice, while Evan is trying to build a career in a way that endangers what Jonathan does. Somehow, they end up together.Based on the tumblr prompt about the chief of police being married to the mob boss, but a bit different.





	Reappearances

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all! 
> 
> I'm still kinda new to this entire bbs fandom, so apologies if the characters seem a bit OOC. But yeah, this started with the original tumblr prompt, and it turned into this long-ass fic that took a while to write. It's unbeta'd, so there's probably mistakes somewhere.
> 
> I had fun writing it, so I hope y'all enjoy it!

When they had met the first time, it was high school. Their freshman year, to be specific. Both boys were new to the area at the time. One had moved from North Carolina, the other from Canada. Both had traveled far to get to Texas, and neither were particularly loving their new lives.

They had bonded over both being the new kids in the relatively small high school they attended. It was one of those where everyone knows everyone, and rumors spread like wildfire. 

Their friendship started in science class. 

 

“Anyone sitting there?” 

Jonathan looked up from his phone and immediately furrowed his brows. Some new kid with tanned skin and messy black hair was standing in front of him, gesturing to the desk to his right that was empty. “No, it’s all yours,” Jonathan replied with a shrug.

“Cool.” The new kid sat down quickly, making himself at home in the back of the classroom. “Are you the other new kid I keep hearing about?” 

Jonathan knew he wouldn’t be able to brush it off. Even on the first day of school, rumors of two new kids - on with a bright red jacket and the other with a backpack that teddy bears on it - were spreading amongst the students with impressive speed. 

Considering this other kid was indeed wearing a bright red jacket with white stripes on the sleeves, it didn’t leave a whole lot of options as to who Jonathan could be. So he turned off his phone, flipped it over, and faced the kid to his right. “Yeah, I’m the other new one.” 

The kid grinned, as if happy to not be alone. “I’m Evan, what’s your name?” 

“Jonathan.” Said boy eyed the other kid wearily; he seemed way to cheerful to be at this school so early in the morning. “You’re awfully happy to be here.” 

“Oh, I’m dying inside but it’s all cool.” Evan maintained his grin. “Besides, aren’t you just super excited to start your morning off with boring-ass science class for the entire year?” 

Jonathan let out a laugh at that. Maybe this kid wasn’t so bad. “Yeah, I’m so damn excited, I feel like I’m gonna piss my pants.” 

“Dude, if you piss in a beaker, maybe we could do an experiment with it! Do it, I dare you!” 

From there, Evan and Jonathan’s friendship had blossomed. It was as if they were destined to meet. They were never seen without each other, both at school and out of it. Conjoined at the hip, Evan’s parents would say. 

Whenever they hung out, it was always at Evan’s parents’ house. Not that his parents minded, as they quickly began to see Jonathan as a second son. They cared for him as they did Evan, which was probably the second biggest reason that Jonathan preferred Evan’s house to his own. 

That, and because Jonathan never wanted Evan to meet his parents. Evan was never completely clear on the reason why, but he never pressed. If his best friend didn’t wanna tell him something, then apparently that something didn’t matter. 

The next two years of high school were the best of Evan’s life. He had one of the greatest people in the world by his side, and he was getting a sense of what he wanted to do with his life. He was thinking about being a police officer; he liked helping people, so why not make a career out of it? 

Jonathan never talked about his future; Evan took it as the wild-haired boy just didn’t know what he wanted to do. 

Everything was going great, until their junior year and Jonathan told him he was moving away. Then Evan’s world came crashing down. He told Evan that it was because his parents needed to move, something about his dad’s job needing him in another city. All Evan heard was that his best friend would be leaving him, possibly forever.

It seemed that everything was harder without Jonathan. Every little thing was just another reminder of the best friend Evan no longer had. Playing video games wasn’t the same without a loud, sometimes delirious young boy by his side. 

The worst thing about it was that Jonathan had promised to text him every day. It was the only promise he made to Evan that he ever broke.

School was especially difficult. Evan used to have almost all of his classes with Jonathan, and they would joke about everything throughout the day. But now, Evan had to move on. He made a few new friends, but none of them even came close to being as great as Jonathan was. 

Evan felt incomplete until he was well into college. He could tell that he had no future in Texas, so he decided to move again. This time, he decided on the west coast: Los Santos, far away from everything that Evan knew. He would move after college ended and he had his degree.

Having decided on becoming a cop, Evan majored in criminal psychology. He made a new friend, Tyler, who introduced him to a whole bunch of other friends. Soon, Evan had a good group of friends he could rely on. He was almost happy at college. Evan decided to room with Tyler, and the two of them got an apartment together. Evan could almost forget about a certain someone from his past.

After about two years, Evan was done trying to be the goody two shoes guy who did nothing but attend his classes. His friends had spent the previous two years on trying to get Evan to go to any party that they did - which was a lot.

Finally, Evan said ‘fuck it’ and went with his friend Marcel to a party. He had decided to go into a normal house party on a weekday, planning on getting blackout drunk while Marcel played the designated driver for the first time. About an hour in, and he was well on his way to the land of not seeing straight.

On his fifth - sixth? seventh? hundredth? - cup of whiskey, Evan was dancing with some girl in a random room, the music so loud he couldn’t hear himself think. He could feel her grinding down on him, her tight clothes leaving very little to the imagination, but the feeling didn’t last long. He felt her being pulled away, then warm hands on his own shoulders.

Evan tried to focus on who was in front of him, but he thought he must be hallucinating. There was no way he was being lead away from the party, booze, and music by the man of his dreams. He had to be utterly shitfaced, more so than he first thought.

“You’re an idiot,” The person told him.

Evan just grinned, letting out a drunken laugh. “You’re not real,” he slurred, doing his best to put one foot in front of each other. With the growing absence of heart-pounding music, it was both easier and harder to focus on walking to wherever he was being lead too. He was too far gone to even care.

He barely registered being placed in the backseat of a car that definitely wasn’t Marcel’s, and then the two of them driving off. He passed out somewhere along the drive, listening to the soothing sounds of the other person scolding him for drinking too much on a weekday. The darkness was welcome, wrapping Evan up in a nice blanket of drunken sleep.

The next morning, Evan woke up and immediately wanted to die. His head was pounding with the force of twelve angry gods, and his entire body protested being alive. Once he managed to keep his eyes open for more than three seconds at a time (why was the sun so goddamn bright) he noticed he was lying in his bed. He didn’t remember at all how he got there, but he was definitely in his own apartment.

He briefly wondered if Marcel was alright. Then he heard someone in the kitchen making a racket. Evan bolted up, and regretted everything. His head swam, his vision blurred, and his stomach threatened to escape up through his throat. Evan shut his eyes and took deep breaths until his body calmed the fuck down, then very carefully, worked on standing up. 

Once he was standing, Evan noticed he was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, but at this point he couldn’t care. Slowly but surely, he made his way out of his room and towards the source of all the noise. He paused at the doorway to the small kitchen, letting his eyes focus on the man standing by the stove.

Evan almost forgot how to breathe when he realized who it was. He leaned against the wall, overcome with joy and also nausea. 

“J-Jonathan?” Evan croaked, voice heavy from disuse. 

Jonathan whipped around, a smile on his face. “You’re awake! I figured you died, you drank like a monster last night. There’s some water and painkillers on the counter for you, you look like you need it.” 

Evan nodded, still in shock from seeing his best friend in his kitchen after too many years of absence. He moved to the counter, staring at the other man as he went. He took the painkillers and drank the water with robotic movements.

When he found his voice again, he asked, “How did you find me?” 

Jonathan grinned again, and pat his back pocket. “I called your parents, they told me you were here. They told me that they missed me just as much you did. Anyways, I got here, and you were gone but you wrote an address on a sticky note on the counter so I went there, and bada bing, bada boom, I found you. I’m making you some breakfast, by the way. Nothing helps a hangover like bacon and toast.” 

“I will actually puke on you if I eat something,” Evan said, wondering where the bacon had come from. He certainly never bought bacon. 

“I’mma risk it, you need food.” Jonathan started cooking, slapping Evan’s hand away whenever he tried to help. “We both know you can’t cook,” He reminded Evan. “Now go sit down and nurse your hangover.” 

“I still can’t believe you’re here,” Evan murmured, choosing to sit on the bit of counter that wasn’t occupied with breakfast arrangements. “It’s been years.” 

Jonathan pressed his lips into a line, as if ashamed of that. “Four and a half, yeah.” 

“When did you get back?” Only then did Evan realize that he never knew where Jonathan had moved too; his younger self hadn’t cared at the time. “How long are you gonna be here?” 

“Not long,” Jonathan replied, not looking up from what he was doing. “My folks want me back as soon as possible, but I wanted to fucking get away from them for a bit. I wanted- fuck, I missed you.” 

Evan said nothing, but he knew it was obvious that he had missed Jonathan too. He reached his hand out, and waited for the other man to notice it. When he did, Jonathan just stared at it. 

Evan huffed. “I missed you too, fuckboy. Now gimme your hand.” 

Jonathan had planned on only staying a week, but one turned into two. Evan had damn near begged Jonathan to stay longer; it took every excuse he had - the main one being Tyler was out of town so they wouldn’t have to worry about disturbing him - and then Jonathan was finally convinced to stay.

Evan had brought him all around the city, showing him some tourist sights as well as places he just liked to go, like the park next to a forest that had some hiking trails and stuff. He wanted to make the most out of these two weeks.

Evan wished he could’ve brought Jonathan to meet Tyler, but Tyler was visiting his folks back in Tennessee. Secretly, Evan was glad that his roommate was away; it meant he could have Jonathan all to himself for the entire time he was there. 

Having Jonathan there with him for pretty much every second of every day, it felt just like high school. His best friend was back; they joked like no time had passed, like the world consisted of just the two of them and no one else. It was the best vacation Evan could ever ask for; he couldn’t even be bothered to care about missing classes, because he had the man he cared most for in this world back by his side.

Of course, what goes up, must come down. On the day that Jonathan had to leave, Evan felt worse than he had in years. He had just gotten his best friend back, and now he had to let him go all over again. He knew it was coming, but still, nothing could prepare him for the ache of losing Jonathan all over again.

“Where are you going?” Evan asked, watching helplessly as Jonathan packed his clothes into a single suitcase. “Where do you even live, you never told me.” 

“I, um, live in Los Santos. California.” Jonathan rubbed the back of his neck, leaning against his car with an aura of unease.

Evan brightened at the mention of that city. “I’ve been thinking of moving there! The police force has a lot of opportunities, and-” 

“No!” Jonathan winced at his own volume. “Sorry, but, just- you don’t wanna live there.” He shook his head, looking as if he wanted to say more but couldn’t.

“But you’re there,” Evan murmured. He dropped his gaze to the ground, feeling himself grow cold despite standing in the Texas sun. Did his best friend really not want him around? After they supposedly had such a great time this week? 

“Ev, please, it ain’t a good city. Fuckin’ criminals everywhere, you could get killed!” Jonathan sounded more and more desperate by the second. He had to convince his friend - fuck, his crush - that it wasn’t a good idea to move to Los Santos. “It isn’t safe, you can’t live there! Make a career out here, be super successful anywhere but there!” 

“I want to go there to help the city, I want to make it better,” Evan said. He knew it sounded naive and stupid, but he really did wanna make that city a better place. “Don’t you wanna live near me, so we can see each other more than just once every four years?” 

More than you could ever know. Jonathan swallowed his words, and shook his head. “It’s a bad idea, Ev. Don’t do it.” He went for a hug, but quickly noticed how dejected Evan had become. He felt like crying himself, honestly. But he had to do this if it meant keeping the man he loved safe. “If I’m ever in town again, I’ll call you.” 

“Okay.” 

“Evan, please-” Jonathan cut himself off. There was so much he wanted to say, so many things he’s wanted to get off his chest for years but never had the courage to do it. But at this point, he would only make this worse for the both of them. 

So he got in his car, and drove off without another word. He hated himself for doing it, for crushing his best friend like that. But it had to be done… right? 

God, Jonathan hoped so. Otherwise he probably just ruined the only relationship with another person he ever cared about forever.

 

The next time Evan saw Jonathan was many years later. 

After that very confusing and hurtful conversation, Evan had told Tyler about it. Tyler had listened carefully, holding his thoughts until the end which was very unlike his usual method of “listening” which meant interjecting his own comments very, very often.

Once Evan was done talking, Tyler very eloquently summed up his thoughts into this: “Fuck Jonathan. I get that you love him and all, but if the motherfucker leaves for four years and doesn’t bother to tell you jack shit like where he even went, then he shouldn’t get to tell you what to do.” 

Knowing that Evan didn’t respond well to aggression when he was distressed, Tyler had taken a deep breath, and tried again. “Look,” Tyler said in a softer tone, placing his hand on Evan’s shoulder. “You should do what you wanna do. If you wanna move to Los Santos, which I’m still doing, then we can go together and make our careers out there, you know? And if you don’t, that’s alright too. I’ll support you no matter what.” 

With that in mind, Evan decided to go through with the move when he and Tyler graduated college. So off to Los Santos they went, excited for the future. Hopefully, the city was big enough that Evan would never have to see Jonathan ever again since he was apparently unwanted in the other man’s life.

Their first few years on the LSPD went pretty smoothly; they were slowly climbing the ladder, and becoming known throughout the entire force. There were jokes of them soon moving on to the FIB, but that probably wasn’t going to happen.

Evan had his work cut out for him. Living in Los Santos wasn’t easy considering crime was literally everywhere. Jonathan had really been honest about that; this city was dangerous. But Evan didn’t let it deter him from trying to make it better, from trying to put those criminals behind bars and ensure the safety of the civilians. 

At some point, Evan and Tyler had been placed on a special task force designated to dealing with one of the city’s more prominent gangs: the Bears. They weren’t the most dangerous gang in the city, not by a longshot. They weren’t mass murderers; the work of the Bears mostly consisted of major thefts and the occasional arson.

But they were still a menace, so Evan and Tyler devoted their time to attempting to capture their boss, a man who went by the surname Delirious. It was quite difficult considering the only information they had on the man was a sketch of his mask - a gray hockey mask with red triangles painted on - and the knowledge that he was the leader of the Bears for quite a while now. 

Nothing else about the man was known, except for the fact that he had dark hair. A very useful piece of information, clearly.

Apparently, this man had come into power around the same time that Jonathan had moved to Los Santos. Despite his bitterness towards the man, Evan still hoped that Jonathan never had and never would have an encounter with this Delirious or any of his goons. 

 

New additions to the LSPD were something of a rarity in Los Santos; no one really wanted to be on the police force working on a hopelessly crime-ridden city. Therefore, when new people were hired, everyone in Delirious’ gang heard about it rather quickly.

At the time he’d found out, Delirious had been planning another bank robbery in the large office of their safehouse. It wasn’t meant to be an office, but they made it that way with a large table and filing cabinets to keep their shit organized.

“Del, you gotta check this shit out,” One of his best friends, Luke, entered the room without knocking and plopped two files right on top of the plans Delirious had been looking at.

The “boss” (he didn’t like to refer himself like that) scowled at the files. “I’m working, what’s so urgent?” 

“There’s two new hires for the cops,” Luke told him with a grin. “Can you believe it? They suckered two poor bastards into a useless career this time. Fuckin’ score for them. We’re making bets on how long they’ll last, I’m bettin’ six months.” 

Intrigued, Delirious opened the first of the two files. It was a typical dossier on one of the new policemen, with a name, basic information, and photo, courtesy of their hacker getting into the police’s “secure” systems.

Delirious felt his throat go dry at the photo of the first new hire. He prayed to whoever was listening that this wasn’t what he thought it was, and ripped open the second file. A painfully familiar face stared back at him. One he’d love nothing more than to see in real life, but also hoped to never come across.

“Jon, you good?” Luke’s good mood fell at the sight of his friend looking like he just saw a ghost. “Do you know those two or some shit?” 

Delirious - or Jonathan - slammed the files shut and all but threw them at Luke. “No, I’ve never seen those two in my life,” He said a little too quickly. “I’m workin’ here, Toonz, please leave me alone.” 

Luke raised his hands in mock surrender. He knew something was up, but he also knew that if Jonathan didn’t wanna tell you something, you’d never find out what it was. So he took the files, and slowly backed out of the room. 

“Make sure you eat something,” Luke called out before he shut the door. 

Jonathan winced at his friend’s words; they were too close to what Evan would say to him. 

God, he missed his friend. Jonathan wished he could go congratulate him on achieving his dream, but he knew Evan wouldn’t wanna see him; he fucked that up for good. 

Jonathan shook his head, and forced himself to focus on the plans in front of him instead of the guilt threatening to choke him out.

 

It wasn’t long after that when Evan had his first real encounter with the Bears. A small group of them had been in the process of robbing a bank, and a witness from across the street managed to tip off the police about it. It was pure luck, but Evan wouldn’t say no to such luck.

He and Tyler quickly pulled up to the scene, and entered the bank with their weapons drawn.

“Los Santos PD, hands in the air!” Tyler shouted, his voice booming throughout the small bank.

A man whom Evan guessed to be in the lead of this mission turned to them, carrying a rifle. He was wearing a black jacket that was definitely covering a bulletproof vest, and his face was concealed by a red mask with a black cross painted over the right eye. 

He stared at Evan, his eyes harsh and analyzing. Then he turned to his men who were still in the process of robbing the bank. “Drop the mission! Don’t shoot, just go!” 

The two other masked men all followed his command without a second thought; they abandoned the mission, and went for their escape route, all seemingly within a single millisecond.

It was too weird for Evan and Tyler; they were expecting a shoot out, not the entire crew fleeing from the scene. It took them too long to react - by the time they unfroze, the crew had already left the building and were fleeing in two cars.

Evan and Tyler tried their best to follow in their own car, but these guys were too damn good.

“What the fuck!” Tyler exclaimed when they had officially lost the Bears and were now driving in circles. “What the fuck was that?” 

Evan wasn’t any less confused. The Bears had noticed them, and then just… left. In the history of everything, they had never done anything like that. They never gave a shit about the cops before now, so what had changed? 

“Let’s just head back,” Evan murmured, already turning the car to the direction they needed to go. “We have to explain to our commander how the we apparently let them go.” 

 

Jonathan had been up waiting for the crew he sent on out on that bank robbery. He decided to go ahead and plan their next mission while waiting for the others. 

Jonathan hoped that this bank robbery went well. Not because they necessarily needed the money or anything like that, he just wanted to teach the bitch who ran the bank a lesson.

She was a tough business woman who didn’t believe treating her employees like actual people, and Jonathan had hoped that maybe a good robbery would teach her to appreciate the small things in life. 

Of course, that all went out the window when Luke had stormed into the planning room, followed closely by Ohm and Bryce. 

“How’d the mission go?” Jonathan could sense that something had gone wrong, so he pushed the plans away and focused his attention on his friends. 

“It was going great until your stupid boyfriend and his fuckboy partner showed up!” Luke was definitely pissed; he slammed his knife onto the table. He was rarely ever that harsh with his favorite weapon.

Jonathan froze at the mention of Evan. He didn’t bother to correct Luke about calling Evan his boyfriend, he was too concerned about other things. “Was there a shootout?” He asked, directing his question towards Ohm.

“No, we bailed. Didn’t get shit, but no one was harmed.” Ohm wasn’t happy about it either, but he wasn’t fuming. 

“How fucking often is this gonna happen?” Luke asked, sitting down on one of the stools surrounding the planning table. “How many missions are gonna be compromised because your boyfriend shows up?” 

“What do you want me to do about it?” Jonathan countered, crossing his arms. “I don’t want him hurt in the field.” 

Luke took a deep breath, and turned to the two other men Jonathan had forgotten were also in the room with them. “Why don’t you guys go unwind, we’re done for the night. I’m just gonna try and knock some sense into to this dumbass.” 

“Good luck with that,” Ohm said while Bryce snickered. The two of them, shutting the door behind them.

Luke turned back to Jonathan, seeming a lot less angry. Definitely still frustrated, but not furious anymore. 

“I’m guessing you haven’t reconnected with him?” It wasn’t so a much a question as a statement.

Jonathan shook his head, dropping his eyes to the table.

“Why?” 

“He probably hates me. The last thing I said to him was basically rejecting him as my best friend.” 

“If he truly hated you, he wouldn’t have moved here. Some part of him probably still loves you, just like all of you still loves him. Go and find him. Tell him that you aren’t going anywhere this time.” 

“But he’s a fucking cop and we’re criminals!” Jonathan looked at Luke as if he were stupid. “If he doesn’t hate me then, he definitely will if I tell him what we do!” 

“Then don’t tell him,” Luke said with a shrug. “I’m not going on another job until you talk to him. I will plant my ass on the couch and not move for weeks if that’s what it takes.”

“But you’re the best gunman we have!” 

“Then make your move.” 

Jonathan huffed, and leaned his elbows on the table to bury his face in his hands. “I can’t believe I’m being blackmailed by you right now. This is bullshit.” 

“I do it because I love you.” Luke stood up, and pat his friend on the back. “Go find Evan and reconnect so our jobs aren’t compromised for the rest of eternity, alright? I’m going to bed.” 

“‘Night.” 

 

A few days passed; Evan and Tyler had told their commissioner that the Bears had just abandoned the robbery when they arrived, and their commissioner had grilled them for hours after that. Then, they told Evan and Tyler that the two of them could take a day or two off.

So Evan took three days off. Some of it was pretty productive. He cleaned his apartment, he  
organized his work stuff, and he did a little more research on the Bears. Of course, he also spent a lot of time watching pointless television and playing some video games and sleeping.

He had been back at work for all of ten minutes before someone had knocked on the door to the office he shared with Tyler. Said partner was currently in the kitchen, getting coffee and probably chatting up some newbie somewhere.

“Come in,” Evan called out, intrigued as to who the fuck was bothering him so early in the day.

The door slowly opened, revealing a man in a blue jacket with the hood pulled up to hide his face.

“Hello? How can I help you?” Evan stood up, resting his hands on his desk.

The man took a deep breath, and then reached up and pulled down his hood.

Evan froze when he saw the face of a man he hadn’t seen in damn near seven years. He was almost unsure it was even the same person; the man standing in front of him was a little more evened out, and a little more aged. Time had been kind to him, but it still showed in his face.

“You missed the four and half year mark,” was the first thing out of Evan’s mouth. He hadn’t meant to sound so… accusing, but he was still taking in the fact that he was in a room with the person he both loved and hated.

“I’m really sorry about that,” Jonathan said, bringing his hand up to rub his neck. “I got caught up with… my work. Maybe we could catch up? I need to explain some things.” 

“Yeah, you do,” Evan agreed. “But I just got back from a three day vacation of sorts, so it has to wait until after my shift. How does eight work? Maybe we could go for dinner, I’ll be starving by then.” 

“You’re always starving.” Jonathan grinned a little, and it felt like they were old friends again, joking around like it hasn’t been seven years since they saw each other. “I know a great diner, they got some good ass chocolate shakes.” 

Evan didn’t mention that his favorite flavor had changed around two years ago. He preferred strawberry now, but chocolate was still good. “Sounds great, where’s it at?” 

Evan’s shift that day had been both the slowest and the fastest in his life. He wanted nothing more than to run to Jonathan and wrap him up in a big hug and never let him go, but he also wanted to slap Jonathan in the face for disappearing from his life again. 

Tyler had noticed something was off, and asked about it. 

Evan debated with himself whether he should tell Tyler the truth or not, but they both knew that Evan was a shitty liar to Tyler. So he told him, “I’m meeting with Jonathan after work for dinner.” 

And as expected, Tyler didn’t like that. “Seriously? The dickhead who told you to not move here, and didn’t bother to say why other than it was dangerous? The one who you thought was your best damn friend but also hasn’t shown up for most of your life? You’re really meeting him after work?” 

“Yeah,” Evan shrugged. 

Tyler shook his head. “You’re fucking crazy. I hope he stays this time, I’d love to meet him so I could punch him in the fucking stomach.” 

Evan hoped that Jonathan would stay this time too. But for very different reasons than Tyler.

The diner they ended up meeting at was towards the southern edge of the city. It was a bit run-down, but full of that homey feeling that makes a good diner a good diner. Jonathan made it there first, and had picked a booth far from the door. He’d been sipping a black coffee while waiting, eyeing the waitresses carefully out of habit. Normally, the staff at the diners near where he… worked, weren’t as friendly as these seemed to be.

Evan got there soon after, punctual as always. He sat across from Jonathan, giving him a smile despite the tension between them. A waitress came over to take their orders soon after; Evan ordered a burger and fries, while Jonathan ordered pancakes and eggs.

“Breakfast for dinner, huh?” Evan asked once the waitress was gone.

Jonathan shrugged with a light grin, and wrapped his hands around his coffee. “I haven’t had time to eat today, so it’s pretty much breakfast, right?”

While Evan wasn’t surprised to hear that the other man hadn’t eaten all day, he still didn’t like it. “You need to eat more.” 

“Probably.” 

Then their food arrived, and once again, they were transported back to a time where they were never apart. They talked about random things, joked about nothing, and carefully skirted the painfully obvious elephant in the room. They threw food at each other like they did in high school, and shared their dinners whenever each wanted a bite of what the other had.

It was nice. Evan could almost believe they had a normal friendship. Or that the feelings he harbored for the other man were just that - platonic. But that was a different discussion for a different night.

Once they ate, their plates were taken away, and they settled the bill - Jonathan paying with Evan leaving the tip - then did the peaceful atmosphere start to deplete.

A silence surrounded them, blanketing them in a heavy tension once more. Evan had a million questions swirling in his mind, threatening to spill along with his frustrations. Jonathan had a million truths he wanted to tell, but he couldn’t for fear of fucking up the most meaningful relationship he ever had.

In the end, it was Evan who spoke first. “You know what I’m gonna ask, right? Why… why seven years?” 

Jonathan couldn’t look up from his coffee. The dark beverage seemed to stare back at him mockingly. “I… I got caught up with my work shit. That’s all I can say.” 

Evan leaned back in his seat. “I can’t keep doing this, Jon. You can’t just keep showing up once every blue moon without telling me jack shit about why.” 

“I know.” Jonathan took a deep breath, and looked up. “What do you want me to say, Evan?”

“I want to know why you haven’t reached out to me in the last seven years.” Evan’s voice hardened. Jonathan could feel that he was losing him as a friend.

“I can’t. If I tell you, people’s lives are on the line. Your life would be too, I’m trying to keep you safe!” Jonathan was getting desperate at this point; this wasn’t how he wanted this conversation to go at all.

“Keep me safe from what?” It felt like Evan was staring right into his soul.

Jonathan took a deep breath, battling internally with himself over what he could tell the man who might just turn around an arrest him for it. He thought his words out carefully, and could sense Evan’s impatience was growing.

Finally, he said, “People like me who wouldn’t like it if I was friends with people like you.” He knew it sounded like he was in fucking high school talking about cliques and stupid shit, but he didn’t know how the fuck else to put it.

Evan, perceptive as always, figured it out though. “People like me?” He raised his eyebrow, and leaned in a bit closer. “Are you a fucking criminal?” 

Jonathan would’ve shushed Evan, maybe told him to talk a little quieter, but at that moment, he was too busy being ashamed of his actions. “Maybe a little,” He admitted. 

“Are you a murderer?” Evan asked, disgust creeping into his voice.

“God, no!” Jonathan winced at his sudden volume, and slouched even further into his seat. “No,” He repeated, quieter but more firm. “I steal and shit, but I don’t kill.” Not on purpose went unsaid.

Evan fell silent, lost in thought. Jonathan squirmed, completely unsure as to what was happening anymore. He sipped his now-cold coffee, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

When Evan didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity, Jonathan asked, “Where does that leave us?” He felt like a grade-A idiot right now; he just told a fuckin cop that he was a thief.

Evan finally met his gaze, looking more tired than ever. “Are you planning on disappearing again? I know you live here, but are you just gonna leave again, and show up in another fifty years?”

Jonathan had asked this himself earlier; he hadn’t come to real answer, but now, sitting across from Evan, it was obvious that there was no other answer. “I’m staying this time. I want you back in my life, Ev. I hope you’ll let me be in yours.” 

Evan gave him a small smile. “Of course I want you in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pissed at you. But… I missed you.” 

“I missed you too, fuckboy.” Jonathan reached his hand out, palm up.

Evan’s smile grew as he remembered when he had said those words, and grabbed the other man’s hand with the intent of never letting go.

It was about two weeks later when Evan brought Jonathan to meet Tyler. Evan hadn’t exactly told his partner that his old buddy was a criminal; it hadn’t come up smoothly in conversation.

True to his words, Tyler punched Jonathan in the stomach. Then shook his hand and introduced himself. Figuring he deserved it, Jonathan didn’t retaliate, even if it was a heavy fucking punch.

 

Much to Evan’s surprise, Jonathan really did end up staying in his life this time. The two of them began talking more and more, to the point where it was everyday. Then, they started hanging out, to the point where it was almost everyday. There were a few days at a time when they wouldn’t see each other, but the two of them almost always had their phones. 

The only downside to seeing Jonathan this much was that it kinda forced Evan to deal with his growing feelings for the man. It had been easy to ignore when the other man wasn’t in his life; but now, every damn time Jonathan smiled and Evan got butterflies in his stomach, it was more difficult to deny that he loved his best friend.

Tyler confronted him about it one morning in their shared apartment. He said - in his very nice way of saying things - “Are you ever gonna tell Jonathan that you wanna fuck him?” 

Evan nearly choked on his cereal. Once he regained his composure, he looked at Tyler like he was crazy. “What?” 

“You like Jonathan, yeah? I can fuckin’ tell, it’s a miracle he doesn’t. You should tell him, and don’t even try to tell me that he doesn’t like you because you two are the most obvious yet oblivious motherfuckers on the planet. You both deserve a damn medal for it. Now, when you inevitably see him later today, fuckin’ tell or I will. And I won’t be nice about it.” 

Knowing that Tyler was being serious, Evan decided to do the smart thing and make his move. His move being asking Jon out on a cheesy date of dinner and a movie. It was cliche, sure, but it worked. The theatre they went to had the kinds of seats where you can pull the armrest up to cuddle, so Jonathan was firmly planted in Evan’s arms by about ten minutes into the movie.

When Evan went home with a big goofy smile, Tyler could tell that the two of them were officially an item now and he wouldn’t have to actually do anything for his stupid ass friend. 

 

After that, it had taken an embarrassingly long time to realize just who Jonathan really was, and what he did for a living. It was a lot of little things, and one really big thing. 

It was all the times that the Bears had hit some bank or something, and Jonathan would always be “at work” whenever that happened. Or how whenever one of Jonathan’s co-workers would call him, Evan could sometimes hear him being referred to as Delirious. He never thought anything of it, considering Jon was pretty crazy and delirious wasn’t exactly a rare word.

It’s worth mentioning that throughout this whole ordeal, Evan and Tyler had been steadily climbing the ladder in the police force. They were pretty high up now, being given top priority cases as well as being given the lead on the task force to take down the Bears.

Recently, the two of them had taken up a strong dislike for their current chief of police. The current chief was an older man, very close to retirement and not caring about his job anymore. Evan couldn’t stand it; even if you weren’t going to have the job in less than a year, you should still give a shit, especially when the safety of civilians was in question.

Evan had ranted to Jonathan about it one day, and then two weeks later, the old chief was retired, a promising young woman was offered the position, and Evan and Tyler were now in much important - and higher paying - positions within the force.

It was too many things to ignore at this point. So Evan called in a few favors, as well as doing research of his own, and managed to find where Jonathan conducted his business. It was an old warehouse on the other side of the city, in the district that no one in the force really dealt with for the lack of criminal activity there. Evan would’ve felt foolish for not having found it for so long, but at his point, he didn’t care about his job so much as his personal life.

So there Evan was, knocking harshly on the front door, quickly losing his patience. 

The door swung open, revealing a man with darkish hair and a beard. His expression was blank, but his eyes scanned the other man up and down as if he knew just who exactly he was. 

“So, you’re Evan?” The presumably older man said.

“Where is he?” Evan asked, figuring he wouldn’t have to specify just who he was mad at.

The man pressed his lips into a line, then stepped to the side. “Planning room. Take a right, down the hall, fourth door on the left.” 

Evan nodded to the other man, and entered the house. He followed the instructions, and found the door; he opened it as silently as he could, and managed to not be heard. He was met with the man he loved bent over a table covered in various papers and a couple of laptops, hair disheveled and bags under his eyes.

“Delirious,” Evan called out.

“Yeah?” Jonathan shifted his gaze to the door, and froze when he saw just who was there. It felt like his worst nightmare was coming true. His heart was trying to evacuate his chest and his stomach dropped through the floor.

“So it’s true,” Evan said, mostly to himself. “You really are Delirious, huh? And this, this place, do all the Bears live here?” 

Jonathan could only nod. “Sometimes we camp out at other places.” 

“That’s why you never wanted to talk about moving in together.” 

Another nod.

“You kept this from me for… shit, even before we started dating? How long have you done this?” 

Jonathan swallowed. “Since right after, um, high school. My parents wanted me to follow in their footsteps, but I didn’t. So I started this with friends from North Carolina, and, uh… yeah.” 

“Right.” Evan nodded, not really sure why though. “You kept this from me for over eleven years.” 

“What the fuck was I supposed to say?” Jonathan’s own frustration was showing through. “ ‘Hey, Ev, I’m a dangerous criminal, still wanna be friends?’ or ‘Hey, Ev, I’m a dangerous criminal, still wanna be date?’ Even when you weren’t a cop, how was I supposed to tell you? And then when you did become a cop, the timing only got worse and worse until it felt like I could never tell you!” 

He took a deep breath, and hoped that Evan wouldn’t hate him. “I had to think about my boys, they’re practically my brothers. I love them, and I had to protect them. You know I trust you, but to them, you’re a risk. And the less you knew, the better. I have enemies, Ev. And if they know that we’re… whatever we are, then that just means even more danger for you. I thought it would be better for everyone if I just kept my mouth shut.” 

Evan said nothing, seemingly lost in thought. Jonathan could practically see the man’s brain going at a thousand miles per hour. 

He decided to give it one last go. “Look, Ev, I fucked up. I’m sorry, dear God I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to protect you. You mean so much to me, I didn’t want you to think I was just some criminal trying to get it in with the cops or something-” He cut himself off, knowing that he was about to start rambling if he didn’t. “I’m sorry,” He finished, dropping his gaze to the table.

“I’m gonna go see my parents for a few days,” Evan murmured, shifting his gaze to Jonathan’s shoes. “I need time. I need to think this all over.” 

Jonathan wanted to throw himself at the other man’s feet and pledge his sorrow and guilt at the entire situation, but he didn’t. He merely nodded, feeling too cowardly to do anything else. “Okay.” 

With that, Evan left. He turned on his wheel, and walked out the house, trying his best to pretend that he was fine. He would wait until he arrived at his parents’ house back in Canada, and then he would breakdown. But until then, he was fine.

Ohm and Luke had been sitting on the stairs the entire time Evan was there. They didn’t really trust him - the man was a cop, for fuck’s sake - and they also wanted to hear what was happening. It felt like they were back in high school eavesdropping over the popular kids’ conversations purely for the sake of eavesdropping.

Then the conversation had quieted down to the point where even Ohm couldn’t hear shit, and his hearing was better than most people’s. So he turned to Luke, and finally voiced his complaint. “A cop knows where we live now.” 

“He does,” Luke agreed, leaning against the other man a bit.

“I don’t like that. He could do anything with that information. We should move, to the one safe house we cleared out a few months ago-” 

“He won’t do anythin’,” Luke claimed, sounding very sure of himself.

Ohm narrowed his eyes, and reached for the string on his gray hoodie. “How do you know?” 

“He cares about Jonny too much to use that against him.” 

“If you’re wrong about this-” 

“You’ll shave my beard in my sleep, yeah, yeah. Sure you will, Ohmie.” Luke reached up to tug at the bunny ears of Ohm’s hoodie, making the other man huff in feigned annoyance.

 

Evan ended up staying at his parents’ house for a week. His parents didn’t mind, considering they didn’t see him very often at all, and his work didn’t mind, since he hadn’t taken a proper vacation in well over a year.

When he got back to the apartment, he said hi to Tyler - who wasn’t all that concerned, he was used to Evan needing his space every once in a while - and set his stuff down. He figured he would wait until to tomorrow to try and talk to Jonathan again. He wasn’t sure he was ready to face the criminal quite yet.

The next morning, once again standing outside the door to Jonathan’s safehouse, Evan was quite sure that he still wasn’t ready to face the other man, much less his feelings. But he swallowed down his reservations, and knocked on the door.

This time, a man in a gray hoodie with bunny ears on the hood opened the door. He wore a blindfold around his eyes, but he scanned Evan up and down, so the cop assumed the fabric must be at least partially see-through.

“Follow me.” The man turned on his heel, and led Evan to the living room. 

 

Evan took a breath as his eyes laid on the man he had missed more than anything. “Jon,” he breathed, lips cracking into a smile. 

“Ev,” Jonathan replied, jumping up from his seat on the couch. His eyes were wide, and the bags underneath them had worsened; it was clear he hadn’t slept much. 

The other criminal in the grey hoodie eyed the two of them before deciding he didn’t care. “If you guys decide you wanna kill each other, do it outside. If blood gets on the couch, I swear to God I will end the both of you. I’ll be back in a few hours.” With that, the man left, whistling some unrecognizable tune as he went.

“That was Ohm,” Jonathan murmured once the two of them were alone. “He’s… annoying.” He cleared his throat, and suddenly realized he had no idea what the fuck was about to happen. He felt awkward in the presence of the person he never thought that would happen. It was foreign, and he didn’t like it. “You, uh, want a drink? Alcoholic, not alcoholic, we have capri suns-” 

“Jonathan, I love you.” Evan didn’t mean to pretty much shout his confession, but he didn’t know how else to say it. It was best to be blunt. 

Jonathan looked like the sun had just burned out before his very eyes.

“I thought that visiting my parents would help me clear my mind, but all I could think about was how damn much I missed you,” Evan continued, grabbing Jonathan’s hands and leading him over to the couch. “I want to be with you, Jon. I care about you more than I care about what you do. Yeah, it’s wrong on both our ends, and I could both get into a lot of trouble, but I love you so fucking much.” 

Jonathan couldn’t speak; he couldn’t believe this was even happening. He had thought he ruined any chance he had with Evan, but here the man was, saying he loved him. All Jonathan could do was lean forward and kiss the man he’d been wanting to kiss since the first time he laid eyes on him, way back in high school. 

Evan melted into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Jonathan. He was a fucking police officer, making out with a wanted criminal like his life depended on it. Sometimes, it feels like it does. And he would have it no other way.

 

“Ready, Ty?” Evan looked once more to his partner, a reluctant smile on his face. 

“Ready.” Tyler seemed genuinely excited for this newest bank robbery attempt.

Evan frowned. “Remember the rules?” 

“I can’t shoot your boyfriend.” 

“Or?” 

“Or his friends.” 

“Great. Let’s go.” 

The two of them got out of the car, bullet-proof vests on and weapons ready. Evan led, closely following another pair of officers into the bank. The scene inside was just as expected: civilians cowering, and four masked men with rifles working on clearing out the main vault.

Jonathan was watching the door, hockey mask and blue hoodie on. Ohm and Cartoonz were both in the vault - Evan had met with them a couple times, but still didn’t know their real names. The fourth man, a new guy who went as Miniladd, was keeping the civvies out of the way. 

This was a well-known routine by this point; if Evan and Tyler got to the scene in time, they would fake a shootout while the criminals “accidentally” got away. If the two cops didn’t get to the scene in time, then Delirious had a new addition to his file.

As usual, the shootout started. The other two cops, Scotty and Marcel, weren’t in on the drill quite yet. Maybe one day, they would be let in on what was happening; Evan liked them, they were fun dudes. But right now, he couldn’t trust them with that information. So they were the biggest threats to Jonathan and his crew at the moment.

If there was one thing Evan truly hated about these missions was that at some point, he would actually end up shooting someone. He had to, if he wanted to prove to his commander that he was still fit for his job. 

Today was one of those times; Evan held his breath, and aimed carefully for Jonathan’s shoulder. He knew he’d regret it later, but it was the easiest way to end this shootout before it seemed too staged.

“Fuck, I’m hit!” Jonathan’s voice rang out, guilting Evan just a bit more. “Clear out!” 

“Back to the car!” Tyler shouted. The cops raced out the building, heading on their pre-planned routes to try and track the criminals now running off with a decent chunk of the vault’s contents.

One good thing about their promotion was that Evan and Tyler didn’t have to drive around in the LSPD cruisers. Since they weren’t recorded anymore, Tyler took the opportunity to ask Evan, “You just shot your boyfriend again?” 

Evan sighed, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “Yep. He’s gonna be pissed.” 

“I would be too.” 

“In all fairness, he shot me last month.” 

“He grazed you, it doesn’t count. It was an accident anyways, you shooting him today wasn’t.”

“I didn’t want to.” 

“I could do it next time.” 

“Absolutely not.” Evan had standards for his boyfriend being shot, after all. 

As soon as Evan got home, he knew he was in for it. The house was still; Jon's shoes were by the door, looking as if they were kicked off. The criminal in question was probably in their shared bedroom, so that's where Evan went.

Sure enough, Jonathan was sprawled on their bed, cradling his shoulder and staring up at the ceiling. 

“Hey, babe,” Evan greeted. “How was work?”

Jonathan sprang up, glaring daggers at his boyfriend. “You fucking shot me, that's how work was!”

“I have to, if my commander thinks I'm losing my touch-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Jonathan cut him off. “Still hurt like a bitch. Ohm had to dig the bullet out, and we didn't have any morphine or anything. Next time, make it a through and through, or I will.”

Evan cocked his head as he went over to the dresser. He really needed to get out of his work clothes. “What does that even mean? Have you had any pain killers since then?”

“It means I'm shooting you next, and yeah, I took some earlier.” 

Evan went to lie down, but Jonathan moved his leg to where he was going to sit. “Nope. You know the rules, mister. It's couch time for you.” 

“Come on, really?” Evan had nothing against the couch, but nothing could compare to sleeping next to his favorite person.

“Teddy Bear says you deserve it.” Jonathan pointed to said plush bear that was now sitting proudly on Evan’s pillow.

“No he didn't, but fine. I'll be on the couch.”

“Oh, and Ev?”

Evan turned to his boyfriend, eyebrow raised.

Jonathan grinned. “Have fun taking out the trash for the next three weeks.”

As the realization hit him, Evan knew he fucked up. You'd think he'd remember at this point that being shot meant the other had to take the trash to the curb, yet somehow that fact managed to slip his mind every damn time. 

“Fuck.” Evan sighed, and left the room. 

“Love you!” Jonathan called from behind the now-closed door. 

“Love you too,” Evan grumbled as he got settled on the couch. 

And he did. He loved Jonathan more than anything or anyone. 

Even if he did shoot him on occasion.

**Author's Note:**

> If y'all enjoyed, please leave a comment or kudos! They go a long way!


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